Theater News

Ed Harris, Glenne Headly, Amy Madigan, Bill Pullman to Lead New York Premiere of Beth Henley’s The Jacksonian

The New Group will present the dark comedy Off-Broadway in October.

New York City
Ed Harris and Glenne Headly in <i>The Jacksonian</i>
Ed Harris and Glenne Headly in The Jacksonian
(© Michael Lamont)

Academy Award nominees Ed Harris (Pollock) and Amy Madigan (A Streetcar Named Desire), as well as Theatre World Award winner Glenne Headly (Balm in Gilead) and Drama Desk Award nominee Bill Pullman (The Other Place) will star in the New York premiere of Beth Henley’s The Jacksonian, a dark comedy that will open The New Group’s Off-Broadway season at the Acorn Theatre in October. Robert Falls directs the work, which premiered in 2012 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

The year is 1964. Harris leads the company as Bill Perch, a dentist who moves into the seedy Jacksonian Motel when his wife (Madigan) kicks him out. Amidst the investigation of a recent lynching, Perch’s downward spiral is propelled by encounters from his daughter, the treacherous bartender (Pullman), and a gold-digging motel employee (Headly). Harris, Headly, Madigan, and Pullman all reprise the roles they originated at the Geffen. Additional casting will be announced.

The New Group will also present the world premiere of Thomas Bradshaw’s Intimacy, to be directed by Artistic Director Scott Elliott in January 2014. The work explores race, sex, and intimacy in a suburban American town as a family is shunned by their neighbor with the revelation that their daughter is a porn star.

A third production will be announced in the future.